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Texas Legislature Now Adjourned!

Help defend parental rights.

Staff Attorney Darren Jones is a member of HSLDA’s litigation team. He and his wife homeschool.Read more >>

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends,

The Texas Legislature adjourned for the 2012–2013 regular legislative session on May 27, 2013. During this session, HSLDA was on the alert for bills that had the potential to affect homeschooling, your parental rights, and your educational freedoms. Although the legislature is now reconvened for a special session, we don’t anticipate any bills on homeschooling being introduced or debated.

Attorney Tom Sanders, father of homeschool graduates and HSLDA’s local counsel, traveled to Austin on five separate trips to speak with your legislators and give homeschoolers a voice in the legislative process.

This session saw bills ranging from marriage amendments (HJR 77 and 78, SJR 29) to counting homeschoolers in a school district’s daily attendance (HB 1990), all of which never made it to a final vote. Other bills that died before coming to a vote included good bills such as HB 2793 (which would have provided exceptions to Texas’s compulsory school age) and bad bills like SB 303 (which would have given doctors control over a child’s medical care over and beyond the parents’ wishes). Overall, HSLDA believes the legislature’s work this session is good for Texas homeschoolers.

House Concurrent Resolution 38 would have created a resolution to urge the US Congress to submit to the states for ratification the Parental Rights Amendment to the Constitution. Although HCR 38 didn’t come for a vote in the House, it was well supported in the house committee and we hope to see it come up for a vote in the next session.

Thanks to your quick and passionate response and leadership from homeschool organizations across Texas, homeschoolers overwhelmingly defeated HB 391, HB 393, and SB 1148 in their respective committees. These bills would have eroded parental rights by making it easier for grandparents to sue for access to their children. HSLDA believes that current law strikes a better balance between protecting parental rights and allowing grandparents to intervene in truly abusive situations.

Again, your phone calls to support HB 2547 and SB 1194, which would have strengthened parental rights when a relative sues for custody of their children, were instrumental in a favorable response from their respective committees. Although these bills never made it to a full vote by the chambers, Texas representatives were informed of your support for parental rights.

HB 2872 would have implemented stricter truancy measure for certain public school students. Thankfully, this bill never came for a vote in the Senate. Many homeschool students are often targeted by truant officers.

Both HB 1374 and SB 929, which would have allowed homeschoolers to play on Texas public school teams, died in the House Public Education Committee.

It has been a privilege to serve as your attorney protecting homeschooling freedoms in Texas during the 2013 legislative session! I look forward to keeping you updated when the legislature opens in 2015. Please do not hesitate to contact our office by phone at 540-338-5600 or by email at legalg@hslda.org if you have any questions.

Standing with you for freedom,

Darren A. Jones
HSLDA Staff Attorney

P.S. We greatly value you and your support—it is a privilege to serve you! If you or someone you know is not a member of HSLDA, will you consider taking a moment today to join or recommend us? Your support for our work enables us to defend individual families and protect homeschooling freedom for all. Join now >>

• • • •

Remember the Last Time You Wrote a Term Paper?

Research can be grueling—digging through archives, wading through
articles, conducting interviews. But if it’s related to
homeschooling, you can relax a little. There’s a good chance that
you’ll find what you’re looking for in HSLDA’s bimonthly
Home School Court Report. Providing in-depth, insightful articles
on much of what affects the world of homeschoolers, the
Court Report is a must-read for the serious homeschooler. This
publication is provided free to each HSLDA member.

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